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Fishing Report St. Augustine: Inshore Slam on Morning Tide, Nearshore Reefs and Offshore Wahoo
Published 4 months, 1 week ago
Description
This is Artificial Lure with your St. Augustine fishing report.
We’re sitting on a nice winter pattern this morning. Tide-Forecast’s Saint Augustine City Dock table shows a predawn low around 2:12 a.m. and a strong incoming pushing to a 4.8‑foot high right about 8:30 a.m., with the afternoon ebb setting up nicely for a second round. Sunrise is around 7:19 and sunset about 5:33, so you’ve got a tight early window with moving water and low light lining up just right.
Weather-wise, local marine forecasts have us cool and stable: light north to northeast breeze, seasonal temps in the 50s early, climbing into the 60s, with mostly clear skies. That combo—clear, cool, and a big morning tide—has had the inshore bite cranked the last few days.
According to the St Augustine Daily Fishing Report on Spreaker, guides have been putting clients on classic inshore slams: **redfish, speckled trout, and flounder** on the rising water in the Intracoastal and creek mouths. They’re reporting “reds on the edges, trout on the drop-offs, and flatties on the mud,” with plenty of keeper‑size fish and a few upper‑slot reds mixed in.
**Inshore tactics:**
- Best bite has been the **first half of the incoming through early high**, especially around oyster bars and grass points.
- For artificials, locals are leaning on **¼‑oz jigheads with paddle tails** in new penny, electric chicken, and natural mullet colors, plus **MirrOlure MirrOdines** and small suspending twitch baits for trout on the clearer flats.
- Live bait is still king: **live shrimp**, mud minnows, and small finger mullet under a popping cork or on a split‑shot rig have been steady on reds and trout; shrimp on the bottom around hard edges is picking up flounder.
**Nearshore/offshore:**
Nearshore reefs out of St. Augustine Inlet have been giving up good **sheepshead, black drum, and a mix of sea bass** when the seas lay down. Fiddler crabs and shrimp on knocker rigs tight to structure are doing the work. Offshore, Northeast Florida crews running deep from Jacksonville and St. Augustine continue to find **wahoo** along the ledges when conditions allow, trolling high‑speed lures and rigged ballyhoo.
**A couple of hot spots:**
- **Vilano to Camachee stretch of ICW:** Work the creek mouths and oyster points on the incoming for redfish and trout; slide up into the feeder creeks as the water creeps over the shell.
- **Matanzas Inlet and the south ICW:** The bars and deeper bends just inside the inlet have been solid for slot reds and trout on that pushing tide, with flounder laid up on the muddy, current‑swept edges.
If you’re heading out right now, fish that last push of the morning high around the edges of the flats, then follow the water back off the banks as it starts to fall. Keep your baits near the bottom, move slow, and let that tide do the work.
Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report.
This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
We’re sitting on a nice winter pattern this morning. Tide-Forecast’s Saint Augustine City Dock table shows a predawn low around 2:12 a.m. and a strong incoming pushing to a 4.8‑foot high right about 8:30 a.m., with the afternoon ebb setting up nicely for a second round. Sunrise is around 7:19 and sunset about 5:33, so you’ve got a tight early window with moving water and low light lining up just right.
Weather-wise, local marine forecasts have us cool and stable: light north to northeast breeze, seasonal temps in the 50s early, climbing into the 60s, with mostly clear skies. That combo—clear, cool, and a big morning tide—has had the inshore bite cranked the last few days.
According to the St Augustine Daily Fishing Report on Spreaker, guides have been putting clients on classic inshore slams: **redfish, speckled trout, and flounder** on the rising water in the Intracoastal and creek mouths. They’re reporting “reds on the edges, trout on the drop-offs, and flatties on the mud,” with plenty of keeper‑size fish and a few upper‑slot reds mixed in.
**Inshore tactics:**
- Best bite has been the **first half of the incoming through early high**, especially around oyster bars and grass points.
- For artificials, locals are leaning on **¼‑oz jigheads with paddle tails** in new penny, electric chicken, and natural mullet colors, plus **MirrOlure MirrOdines** and small suspending twitch baits for trout on the clearer flats.
- Live bait is still king: **live shrimp**, mud minnows, and small finger mullet under a popping cork or on a split‑shot rig have been steady on reds and trout; shrimp on the bottom around hard edges is picking up flounder.
**Nearshore/offshore:**
Nearshore reefs out of St. Augustine Inlet have been giving up good **sheepshead, black drum, and a mix of sea bass** when the seas lay down. Fiddler crabs and shrimp on knocker rigs tight to structure are doing the work. Offshore, Northeast Florida crews running deep from Jacksonville and St. Augustine continue to find **wahoo** along the ledges when conditions allow, trolling high‑speed lures and rigged ballyhoo.
**A couple of hot spots:**
- **Vilano to Camachee stretch of ICW:** Work the creek mouths and oyster points on the incoming for redfish and trout; slide up into the feeder creeks as the water creeps over the shell.
- **Matanzas Inlet and the south ICW:** The bars and deeper bends just inside the inlet have been solid for slot reds and trout on that pushing tide, with flounder laid up on the muddy, current‑swept edges.
If you’re heading out right now, fish that last push of the morning high around the edges of the flats, then follow the water back off the banks as it starts to fall. Keep your baits near the bottom, move slow, and let that tide do the work.
Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report.
This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI